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Taking to Twitter on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump claimed he would have won the popular vote "if millions of people did not vote illegally in the presidential election." Trump also criticized a push to recount the votes in three battleground states - Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Green-Rainbow candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, visited the necn studio on Sunday and talked about how she's leading the effort on that recount process. (Published Monday, Nov. 28, 2016)

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is defending her decision to ask for recounts in three states that helped give President-elect Donald Trump his victory, arguing there could have been issues with how the votes were counted.

"Tampering is not done in a way that declares itself. You have to actually go in and count the paper ballots," she said Sunday evening in an interview with necn.

Stein's push for the recount gained new momentum Saturday when Hillary Clinton's campaign broke its silence to say it would join the recount in Wisconsin and possible recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Trump's margin of victory in each state was slim, while Clinton won the popular vote by over 2 million votes, according to one tracker.

The Clinton campaign's support for the recount drew harsh criticism from Trump, who took to Twitter to call the effort a scam and suggested, without evidence, that he would have won the popular vote after deducting "millions of people who voted illegally."

Stein Defends Recount Efforts in 3 States

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is defending her decision to ask for recounts in three states that helped land President-elect Donald Trump his victory, arguing there could have been issues with how the votes were counted.

(Published Monday, Nov. 28, 2016)

"There is no evidence of illegal voters," Stein said in respose. "You're entitled to your own opinions but you can't have your own facts."

The Clinton campaign also found no "actionable evidence" of hacking or machine manipulation, but joined the ongoing effort to make sure the recount process is fair to all parties, a campaign lawyer wrote online Saturday. He added that the campaign is aware that the margin of victory in Michigan exceeds "well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount."

Stein took just 1 percent of the vote in the election, but says she does not believe her candidacy would have affected the election results, nor is recount being done "for one candidate or against another."

"Sixty-one percent of Green voters would not have cast a vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump," she said.

Stein has raised more than $6 million to pay for these recounts. Wisconsin's recount is scheduled to start this weekend, pending approval from the Elections commission, and the deadline to file for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan are Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

Stein said the party plans to file for recounts in each of those states on their deadline days.